


a bit unlikely

by nowrunalong



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-16 21:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3503765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowrunalong/pseuds/nowrunalong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When dealing with an alien menace, Jenny inexplicably finds herself reunited with the Doctor—but not the Doctor she was expecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Had someone told Jenny that months after stepping out of the progenation machine she’d be dancing with unnaturally attractive aliens on alien planets, she would have laughed. Her people had been fighting for generations; why should she be able to do anything different? 

And yet, here she was.

Having been born in the midst of a place devoid of beauty, the young soldier found herself enchanted by all things bright and beautiful. Venox was everything she’d ever dreamed of. The buildings reached through the clouds and were made completely of glass: during the day, the twin suns made the cities shine like diamond; during the night, everything twinkled with the reflections of billions of stars above.

The men were beautiful; the women even more so. The native people here—the Venoxi—were taller and more elegant than most humans, their features pointed and cat-like except for their rounded ears. Jenny admired their ebony skin and their long, dark hair, which they twisted into tiny braids.

She’d met Syranie at the bar and liked her immediately. Like most people here, the woman's eyes were angular and golden and Jenny found herself captivated by them. 

“Where did you learn to dance?” The Venoxi’s voice was similar to a human’s, but deeper. More soulful. Jenny beamed up at her.

“Taught myself!”

“Well, you did a very good job. It is rare I find a human who is able to keep up with a Venoxi.”

Jenny didn’t bother to correct her as she allowed Syranie to twirl her around and pull her back in again so that the two were face-to-face.

Well, face-to-chest. Syranie was a good foot and a half taller than the small blonde.

Suddenly fed up with the height difference, Jenny decided to change that. She stood on tip-toe and moved her hand to the back of Syranie’s head, her fingers tangling in the braids there, and pulled the other woman’s face down closer to her own. Their noses were mere inches apart now.

“Hmm. That’s better.”

Syranie laughed and Jenny could feel the sound reverberate within her own body.

The blonde slid her hand from Syranie’s hair to her cheek, skimming the tip of her ear along the way. 

It was pointed.

Jenny pulled away from the other woman as if she’d been burned, taking two quick steps backwards to escape Syranie’s gentle hold on her waist and nearly bumping into the couple behind her.

“What is wrong?”

“You’re not a Venoxi.”

Syranie seemed unperturbed by this revelation, her mouth curling into an unapologetic smile.

“That did not bother you a minute ago.”

The not-Venoxi’s voice was as smooth as ever.

Jenny ignored her.

“You’re a _Viraxi_. I was told that your people had left this city.”

Syranie raised an eyebrow.

“Most have. I came back. It is no matter to you, foreigner.”

“It matters to me if you plan on attacking people,” Jenny informed her matter-of-factly. “The Venoxi exiled you from the capital for a reason. You were supposed share this planet, but you wanted it for yourselves."

“I am aware of our history.” Syranie lowered her voice and took a step closer to Jenny, sounding a touch irritated now. “The Viraxi should not have settled. This planet is rightfully ours. We were here first. The ‘Venoxi’, as they call themselves, are an inferior _mutation_ of our species. When they lost the ability to shape-shift, they should have lost the right to own the capital.”

“Ah,” Jenny frowned, “forgot about the shape-shifting bit.”

“After tonight, you will not forget again.”

“Right. Don’t be getting any ideas.” Jenny sounded cheerful again as she grabbed Syranie's arm. “You’re coming with me.”

“I am not going _anywhere_.”

Thrusting her arms forward and nearly throwing Jenny to the ground, the Viraxi growled. Around them, heads began to turn. Jenny fumbled for her vortex manipulator with her spare hand, the other still keeping a tight grip on Syranie’s forearm. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Jenny noticed the change begin. Dark skin became dark fur; nails became deadly claws; long hair became a shaggy mane.

“Aha! Here we go."

Jenny pressed the button and the pair disappeared from the crowded dance floor.

The bloodthirsty lion was going to be fun to explain at the other end.

—

Rose Tyler was in her kitchen drinking tea when she heard the roar.

“Doctor?” she called to the other room. "What the hell’s goin’ on? Was that you?”

“Nope!”

He stuck his head through the doorway and grinned.

“Let’s go find out.”

“Oh, you’d love for it to be trouble, wouldn’t you.”

Rose grinned back and sat her mug down on the table.

“I can only spent so many days fixing appliances for your mother. I _need_ some good old-fashioned trouble!"

“Mm-hmm.”

To the surprise of both, ‘trouble’ turned out to be a short blonde with a ponytail standing in the backyard of their country home. Hands on her hips, she faced away from them and into the woods. 

Rose approached her cautiously.

“Hello? Can we help you?”

The girl spun around.

“Ah, hello there! I hope I’m not intruding. I didn’t mean to show up here, I was just aiming for somewhere safe. Have you seen a black lion, by any chance? I was with one, but—” Jenny stopped mid-sentence when she saw the Doctor. “Dad? _Dad!_ ”

Jenny rushed forwards and enveloped the Doctor in a tight hug before he had the chance to say anything.

When she rested her head against his chest, however, she froze and pulled back.

“I’m sorry,” she told him, crestfallen. “I thought you were someone else. You look exactly like him, only a little older.” 

The Doctor finally managed to speak.

“No—Jenny, it’s me. It’s—I thought you were dead. How did you get here? It shouldn’t even be possible!”

Jenny narrowed her eyebrows.

“You can’t be.” She was shaking her head now. “My Dad has two hearts like me.”

She placed her hand over her own chest as she spoke, as if to reassure herself that this was true.

Rose took the Doctor’s hand in hers and squeezed his fingers comfortingly.

“He is your Dad; it’s a bit of a long story.” She smiled kindly at the younger woman. “Would you like to come in?”


	2. Chapter 2

Jenny handled the news of the metacrisis well; after all, she knew how it felt to find that you were something other than what you were expecting. Before Donna had started babbling about Time Lords, Jenny had assumed she was as human as the people around her.

One heart, two hearts; Jenny supposed it didn’t matter, anyway. If she had a dad with one heart and a dad with two, that was fine with her.

“There must still be some cracks in the walls between the universes,” her one-hearted dad was saying, “that allowed you to get through.”

“Is that bad?”

“Well, it’s not ideal. They’re probably still getting smaller as we speak, but if you could get through, then something dangerous could, too.”

“Um, Doctor?” Next to him at the kitchen table, Rose put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “Jenny did say something about a lion, remember?”

“Ah. Right.”

Jenny had liked Rose immediately. She seemed unfazed by Jenny’s arrival; the Doctor must have told the story of his unlikely daughter. She was also better at listening than her—boyfriend? husband?—and had a wonderful smile.

“Where’d you find a lion, anyways?” Rose asked, curious. “You go on a safari or something?”

“No; she’s a Viraxi. They’re a shape-shifting species from Venox. She’s probably resumed her humanoid form by now in order to blend in. Not that that will work very well here.” Jenny paused, thinking. “It’s a shame she’s got such violent ideas, really! She’s a lovely dancer.”

The Doctor was still watching Jenny like he was seeing a ghost. She smiled at him from across the table.

“Dad, I’d love to explain my whole life story since you left me,” Jenny continued, her tone light and free of accusation, “but we’ve I think right now we’d better run. Love the running, yeah?”

The Doctor grinned.

—

They didn't end up running. The three eventually decided that a wander through the woods with a maybe-lion on the loose would be a Very Bad Idea, so Rose drove them to Torchwood Tower to use the equipment there instead. She and the Doctor had gotten their permits together after she’d been left on the beach that second time: he had insisted it was unnecessary; Pete had insisted that as a now-(semi)-permanent citizen of this Earth, he’d need to start following the laws.

Stopping only to scan her ID card, Rose led the way through the headquarters. She spent more time there than the Doctor and knew how to find what they were looking for more quickly.

“Here we are. Surveillance.”

“Lovely.” 

The Doctor plopped down in one of the two office chairs and spun around, taking in the screens situated all around the room.

“Oi, that’s my spot!”

The Doctor moved over as much as he could and patted the small space beside him on the chair.

“There’s room for two.”

Smiling widely, Rose ignored his suggestion and sat down on his lap. The Doctor put his arms around her waist.

Jenny took the other chair, her eyes riveted on the screen in front of her. “This is your house!” She looked to Rose for confirmation.

“Yep! Torchwood’s got drones everywhere now. If you’re outside in London, we can see you.” Rose paused to frown before continuing. “Personally, I think it’s a bit invasive, but Dad insists it’s useful. I guess he was right this time. Move closer to the keyboard, Doctor?”

With his feet, the Doctor rolled the chair up to the desk.

Rose smacked a couple buttons on the keyboard in front or her and dragged something across on the touchscreen computer, bringing up a slightly different image than what had been there before.

On the screen, Jenny and the lion appeared out of nowhere in their backyard. Jenny wobbled slightly as she landed and the lion took this opportunity to escape the blonde’s grip and tear off into the woods. Jenny took a few steps in the creature’s general direction, but it was too late: she was gone.

“Where’d you say you picked her up?”

“Venox. At a—a club, I think you call them? There were drinks and a dancefloor. She was pretty so I asked her to dance, but when I realized she was a Viraxi, she started to get furry and I decided to bring her somewhere else.” Jenny beamed at the couple in the other chair. “It’s fun, saving people! I do it all the time now.”

Rose grinned back at her.

“You did great.”

“Look!” Jenny exclaimed, pointing at the touchscreen suddenly.

Or, more accurately, jabbing her finger into it. The video stopped.

“What did I do? Did I break it?”

Rose laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s just paused. Touch it again.”

Jenny did—more gently, this time—and the video footage resumed playing.

“Here, see?” A tall figure emerged from the woods near where the lion had disappeared. “That’s her! That’s Syranie!”

“Great!”

They watched as the tall woman made her way from one screen to another.

“Wait. She’s—following us?” Rose was incredulous. “Not sure if that’s also great, or… not-so-great."

The Doctor peered over Rose’s shoulder at the screen. “Welll, she’s probably following Jenny. Viraxi have very heightened senses; really, she’s more like a lion than a woman.”

“Why would she run from Jenny and then follow her?”

Jenny answered this question.

“She’s probably realizing she’s not on her planet anymore. She’ll want me to take her back—”

“And,” the Doctor interrupted, “if you can’t do it, she’ll find someone who can.”

“Well, _I_ don’t want to take her back! She was going to hurt the people there.”

“Right. Why was that, again?”

“I don’t really know. Some old rebel movement, I think. Her people were exiled from the capital; she still wants it for herself. Far as I could tell, she was alone.”

“I think it’s about time we had a chat with this Syranie person, yeah? Find out what she really wants.”

Jenny stood up and offered Rose her hand, grinning.

“Just what I was thinking! Come on, Dad.”

—

The Viraxi wasn’t hard to find: she knocked on the front door.

A _polite_ alien menace? The Doctor would accept more of those. The ones who dealt with anything and everything by blowing stuff up were exhausting, especially now that he had to stick around to help clean up the mess.

Rose was less impressed by Syranie’s manners and more by her appearance. She couldn’t quite gage how tall the woman was from the surveillance footage, but in person it was evident that Syranie was a good seven feet. And her _eyes_. Blimey, they were gorgeous.

“Hello again!” Jenny said cheerfully, stepping out from behind the Doctor and Rose. “Fancy running into you here. Glad to see you’ve shed your tail. Lovely. Although I have to admit, it was the claws I was more worried about."

“Careful, Jenny,” the Doctor warned.

Jenny gave him an I’m-not-a-child look, but otherwise paid him no mind. 

Syranie just smiled.

“May I come in? I think we have something to discuss.”

“Yes! Please do!” Jenny gestured grandly towards the door behind her. (Rose could see she shared her dad’s ability to ‘act like she owned the place' wherever she went.)

Jenny held open the door and Syranie swept inside.

—

Sitting unarmed in a conference room with a woman capable of becoming a lion at will was perhaps not the best plan, Rose mused, but they had Syranie’s word she wouldn’t change and armed guards somewhere down the hall. Hopefully that would do.

“Where am I?”

“Very far from where you were. A universe away, really.” 

“It is as I suspected.” Syranie shook her head. “I would like to return to Venox.”

“Is there anything else you’d like?” the Doctor asked, cheerful. “Cup of tea? Spare vortex manipulator? A room with a view? New colour telly? A whole city, perhaps?"

“Who are you to stop me?” Narrowing her eyes, Syranie leaned forward towards the Doctor. “I think we stand on uneven ground, no? You seem to assume knowledge of me, yet I do not even know your name.”

“I’m the Doctor,” said the Doctor, just as Jenny announced: “He’s my Dad!”

The Viraxi looked back and forth between the two part-Time Lords.

“You are both equally arrogant to assume you know me as well as you think."

“Alright,” Rose interjected, “so tell us. We want to help."

“The thing is,” continued the Doctor, "we don’t really want to bring you back to Venox. There’d be a conflict then, see, and it’s really none of our business, but we’d have to sort it out anyways—"

“Because that’s what we do,” concluded Jenny.

“I want to be able to live up high like I used to. In the capital, the buildings are tall. You can see very far. In our small villages, we are close to the ground. Venox is beautiful but you cannot tell from where I live.”

“Is that it? You just really want a room with a view?”

“You seemed to think that was a lot to ask,” the Viraxi said wryly.

“Nah! Not at all. What do you think, Rose? Jenny?”

“We can do that for you!” Jenny was practically bouncing in her chair.

“Oh yeah,” said Rose. She grinned at her comrades. “I know just the place."


	3. Chapter 3

The Duke of parallel New New York owed the Doctor and Rose a favour (their first trip in the new TARDIS had landed them smack in the middle of an uprising involving more suspicious cats and an attempt on his life) so when they came calling again, he was more than happy to part with one of his many spare residences.

“This planet is not as beautiful as Venox,” the Viraxi said, her face pressed up against the window of the 187th-floor apartment, “but I can see very far. I can stay here?”

“Yep! All yours. Just don’t cause any trouble.”

“And don’t start that my-species-is-better-than-yours nonsense with anyone either,” Jenny added.

Syranie considered this instruction. 

"I do know one does not choose their species or their abilities. Perhaps you are right; perhaps it is best not to let these things affect my judgment. It is difficult, however, when two species are so similar yet one is so evidently superior.”

Jenny sighed.

—

Back in parallel London, it was dinnertime. The three grabbed a booth at a pub and Jenny downed her water before they’d placed their orders.

“I’ve never had Earth food before!” she announced. “What’s good?”

She took up her whole side of table, elbows splayed out, chin in her hands as she contemplated the menu. Across from her, Rose and the Doctor sat close together, the Doctor peering over at Rose’s menu rather than opening his own.

“Ooh! Let’s do something we can share.”

“Are you jus’ saying that because I mentioned I wanted a load of chips on the way here?” Rose asked, nudging him playfully with her elbow.

“What’s chips?” Jenny asked, curious.

“Do they not have chips on other planets? You’re gonna love them, Jenny. ’S’just fried potatoes but they’re delicious.”

“Mmm,” said Jenny. “I love fried things! Although,” she wrinkled her nose, “there was this funny purple meat on Klepton—even fried it still tasted like something rotten.”

Rose made a face.

“So—big basket of chips?” the Doctor asked, hopeful.

“You’re starting to sound like me, Doctor,” Rose teased. “Yeah, let’s do chips.”

The Doctor became more serious after they’d ordered, eyes fixed on Jenny.

“What’s up, Dad? I know there’s something you’re dying to ask.” She looked up at him expectantly and crossed her arms, still leaning over the table.

“Well,” he said slowly, “Jenny, you—you _died_. You were shot in the chest and you didn’t regenerate. How did you—”

“The Source healed me!”

“The terraformer?”

Jenny shrugged. “If that’s what you want to call it. It’s really quite extraordinary, isn’t it? You said we were fighting over a bubble of gases, but if it can bring life to people as well as to the planet—perhaps it’s more than it appears.”

“What d’you mean?” Rose asked.

"'In the beginning, the great one breathed life into the universe. And then she looked at what she'd done, and she sighed',” Jenny said, quoting General Cobb word for word. She smiled. “Maybe _she’s_ looking out for me.”

The Doctor looked pensive. “Do you really believe that? The creation myth?”

“It’s a nice story,” Jenny answered simply.

The server arrived with their chips then, depositing the heaping basket in the middle of the table.

“So _this_ is chips! They smell good.” She popped one into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully, then followed it up with a small handful. “Mmm.”

Rose grinned.

“Knew you’d like ‘em! Good suggestion, Doctor.”

“Welll, you know me. Always up for chips.”

“Me, too.” 

They tore through the chips (Jenny ate the most) and ordered ice cream afterwards. Jenny knew what that was, having had it elsewhere. Rose wondered vaguely what kind of species the dairy industry revolved around on other planets, but didn’t ask. Much as she was fond of the Doctor’s rambling, she wasn’t really in the mood for a ten-minute lecture about how they extract milk from… something… somewhere else. Perhaps, she decided, some questions are best left unanswered.

“You know what’s really good?” Jenny asked, grabbing the Coke she’d ordered. Apparently Coke had expanded its market to most human-inhabited planets; Jenny was a fan. “This.” She tilted the can and poured a generous amount of pop into her bowl of half-eaten vanilla ice cream, watching happily as it fizzed up and threatened to escape onto the table.

“The Doctor doesn’t like Coke floats,” Rose told Jenny matter-of-factly. “Says they’re too hard to drink.”

“It’s true! You can’t eat the ice cream because it’s floating, and then, once you try, it goes everywhere! Humans have such absurd food ideas.”

“He always gets it on his nose."

The Doctor sniffed.

“Ice cream and soda should be kept separate,” he concluded.

“I’m not human,” Jenny reminded the Doctor, “and I think it’s a great idea.” She dug into the ice-cream-and-Coke foam with a spoon.

“It’s nice,” Rose agreed, standing up. “Alright, I need to use the loo. I’ll be right back.”

Jenny and the Doctor were quiet for a minute as they watched Rose disappear.

“So, are you glad I found you? You haven’t said.” Jenny ate another spoonful of her dessert and, without waiting for his answer, added, “ _I’m_ glad I found you.”

The Doctor smiled genuinely. “I am, too. Thought I’d never see you again, didn’t I? Though I do wonder what brought you here, to this particular place in this particular world in this particular universe.”

“One might almost say it was impossible.” Jenny winked and the Doctor grinned back at her.

“Nah. Just a little unlikely!”

“What’s a little unlikely?”

Rose had returned already, settling back onto the bench beside the Doctor.

“My daughter,” he announced.

“That’s because I’ve got you for a dad.”

Rose laughed. “She’s got a point, Doctor. You’re the most unlikely man I’ve ever met.”

“That’s nice! Unlikely is nice, isn’t it? Much better than ordinary.”

“Mm-hmm.” Rose tilted her head up and kissed him on the cheek.

“Can we get drinks now?” Jenny asked. “Ooh. And can we sit at the bar?” Her eyes sparkled excitedly as she looked at the Doctor for an answer.

“But we have this booth!” He looked confused. “It’s much more comfortable here. And men won’t bother you if you’re in a booth! They always try to talk to Rose at the bar, even if I’m right next to her. The nerve of them! Can’t they tell I’m a more worthy partner in every respect? Why—”

“I think Jenny _wants_ to meet some new people, Doctor.”

“She’s with us!”

“Well that’s well and good for you, Dad,” Jenny said, reaching across the table to poke him in the chest, “you’ve got Rose.”

“You can go, Jenny,” Rose told her reassuringly. “Besides, you don’t really want to drink with your dad, do you? He’d talk anyone’s ear off who came up to you.”

“Just—be careful.” The Doctor’s voice was wary. “Remember that the last time you asked someone to dance, you ended up dragging a lion to a parallel universe.

Jenny rolled her eyes.

—

There were two men and a woman at the bar. Of the three, the woman was the most attractive; Jenny sat down next to her.

“Hello!"

The woman turned around, her wavy brown hair bouncing over her shoulders. Relief passed over her face as she met the blonde’s eye.

“Hi! I was worried for a second you were going to be that guy,” she added, indicated a short man with red hair sitting at nearby table with her chin. “He keeps looking at my bum. I've had a half a mind to leave, but I’m not finished my drink.”

“You should let him know you’re not interested. You know, from afar.”

“Doubt he cares.” The brunette frowned. “Wait—what do you mean?”

“Want to dance with me?”

A smile spread across the brunette’s face, dimples forming in her cheeks, head tilting to the side.

“Yeah, alright.”

“I’m Jenny, by the way,” Jenny told her, hopping off the barstool and offering the other woman her hand.

“Clara.”

As Jenny spun Clara around and pulled her back in so that they stood chest-to-chest, cheeks flushed, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?”

Jenny took a moment to answer, looking from the booth where her dad still sat with Rose—arm slung over her shoulder, now—and back to the woman in front of her.

“Of all the dreams I’ve ever had… I never imagined that life could be like this. So…”

“So—?” prompted Clara.

“So beautiful,” Jenny decided, and twirled Clara around again.


End file.
